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State Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, had to perform some verbal Jiu jitsu Friday. Or Aikido. Or whatever martial arts discipline that leaves its practitioner vulnerable to self-inflicted wounds. Brakey presented his bill to repeal Maine’s seat belt law to the Transportation Committee just two days after a 75-car pileup left a stretch of I-95 west of Bangor looking like a snowy version of the twisted metal carnage more typical of those […]

We’ve all seen it. Skid marks on straight stretches of road that lead to crumpled guardrails. The car ahead creeping along for no apparent reason. The guy who reflexively looks both ways before darting into an intersection, but who pulls into oncoming traffic because the voice machine affixed to his ear has apparently told him the coast clear. Or this guy: Maine has a distracted driving law, but as columnist […]

It should be a busy day around the State House on Wednesday. The Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will take up several bills to change the referendum process in Maine (including the gathering of petition signatures) as well as the perennial Voter ID law. Over in the budget-writing Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, a large crowd is expected to testify about the LePage administration’s plans for the Department of Agriculture, […]

The parade of opponents to Gov. Paul LePage’s tax overhaul continued Monday as lawmakers on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs and Taxation committees received testimony on proposed increases to the sales tax and broadening the tax to include new goods and services. As was the case last week on hearings devoted to the income tax cut, revenue sharing elimination and taxing nonprofits, opponents dominated the testimony. Officials and paid representatives […]

Happy Monday. Lawmakers are returning from break this week. Some, specifically those on the Appropriations and Taxation committees, never really left as the committee held several hearings last week on the governor’s two-year budget. The public hearings will continue on the budget Monday and through the week. Members of legislative leadership were largely absent, although some Democrats donned hard hats in Fort Kent and other locales as part of their […]

Good morning and, for some of you, happy shoveling. Thursday marks the third consecutive day of public hearings on the governor’s budget and related tax overhaul before the Legislature’s budget and taxation committees. The hearings have been linked to specific portions of the budget and the tax plan in particular. Tuesday’s hearing was devoted to the sales tax and income tax portion of the budget, although there will be additional […]

Good morning. Most state lawmakers are on break this week, but the budget writing committee will be busy. Tuesday marks the beginning of what promises to be long public hearings on Gov. Paul LePage’s budget. The committee isn’t easing into this, either. The panel on Tuesday will begin taking testimony on the various portions of the budget that contain the governor’s tax overhaul. That just so happens to be the […]

Yes! More snow. ‘Cause we need it. Yeah. Light schedule at the State House on Friday. The budget committee will discuss and possibly vote a number of bills, including a supplemental budget proposal designed to bail out at least five county jails running deficits. The proposal has been altered since it was introduced Tuesday. First, there’s more money, about $300,000 more, for a total of $2.48 million, which is the […]

It’s been relatively placid at the State House. Democratic lawmakers aren’t blasting Gov. Paul LePage and the governor has refrained from barbs against liberals. After all, he might need a few of them if he wants to pass his budget. But the armies for both sides are marching. The governor’s town hall meeting in Westbrook ended with chants from liberal activists, presumably from the Maine People’s Alliance, criticizing LePage for not […]

Forget whoopie pie vs. blueberry pie. It’s time for black lab vs. shelter dog (or Golden retriever, or border collie, etc…) On Wednesday, the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee will hear public testimony on a bill by Sen. David Dutremble, D-Biddeford, that would designate the Labrador retriever as Maine’s official state dog. It seems to happen every session that at least one oddball bill – out of more than […]